Mastery/Development history
July 7th update Passive talent tree bonuses Blizzcon 2009 examples Blizzard has used Armor Penetration as an example at the 2009 BlizzCon to explain this system. In a slide presentation, they showed two specific examples to demonstrate. For a Combat rogue specced 15/51/5 with an unknown Mastery stat, he received the following bonuses from the Mastery System:http://static.mmo-champion.com/mmoc/images/news/2009/august/gamesystems_017.jpg * Assassination (15 talent point): +10% Melee Damage, +2% Melee Crit, +5% Poison Damage * Combat (51 talent points): +72% Melee Damage, +5% Melee Hit, +10% Armor Penetration * Subtlety (5 talent points): +4% Melee Damage, +1% Melee Haste, +0.5% Energy Regeneration Armor penetration is green, which may indicate that it is modified by the mastery stat. The second example was a Retribution paladin specced 0/13/58 with 20 Mastery, with the following bonuses: * Holy (0 talent points): +0% Healing, +0% Spell Crit, +0% Crit Heal * Protection (13 talent points): +3% Damage Taken (probably a typo), +3% Health, +2% Block Amount * Retribution (58 talent points): +75% Melee Damage, +10% Melee Crit, -12% ability cooldown Ability cooldown is green. The tooltip for the Mastery stat in the stats panel says "Ability Cooldown: -12%". Eyonix, a Blizzard employee, gave a more detailed breakdown of the Mastery stat on the WoW forums: April 2010 class preview examples This preview introduced the Vengeance mechanic. Death Knight ;Blood *Damage reduction *Vengeance *Healing Absorption: When you heal yourself, you'll receive an additional effect that absorbs incoming damage. ;Frost *Melee damage *Melee Haste *Runic Power Generation: This will function as the name implies, and the new rune system will make generating Runic Power more appealing. ;Unholy *Melee damage *Melee and spell critical damage *Disease Damage: Unholy death knights will be able to get more out of their diseases, which are integral to the tree's play style. Druid ;Balance *Spell Damage *Spell Haste *Eclipse: We are moving Eclipse from a talent into a core mechanic of the class and making it less random. Balance druids will have a new UI element that shows a sun and a moon. Whenever they cast an Arcane spell, it will move the UI closer to the sun, and buff their Nature damage. Whenever they cast a Nature spell, it will move the UI closer to the moon, and buff their Arcane damage. The gameplay intention is to alternate Arcane and Nature spells (largely Starfire and Wrath) to maintain the balance. ;Feral (Cat) *Melee Damage *Melee Critical Damage *Bleed Damage: Feral druids will receive two sets of passive bonuses depending on whether the druid is in cat or bear form. Bleed Damage will be improved for cats. Savage Defense is the current bear mechanic for converting crits into damage absorption and will be improved for bears. ;Feral (Bear) *Damage Reduction *Vengeance *Savage Defense: Feral druids will receive two sets of passive bonuses depending on whether the druid is in cat or bear form. Bleed Damage will be improved for cats. Savage Defense is the current bear mechanic for converting crits into damage absorption and will be improved for bears. ;Restoration *Healing *Meditation *HoT Scale Healing: HoTs will do increased healing on more wounded targets. The mechanic is similar to that of the Restoration shaman, but with HoTs instead of direct heals. In Cataclysm, we anticipate druids using a greater variety of their spells so there is a distinction between healing and HoT healing. Hunter ;Beast Mastery *Ranged Damage *Haste *Pet Damage: Many of the passive benefits to pet damage will no longer be available in the Beast Mastery talent tree. However, these will be provided through the new Mastery mechanic. ;Marksmanship *Ranged Damage *Armor Penetration *Double Shot: The hunter will have a chance to launch a free attack off of the global cooldown for 50% damage. ;Survival *Ranged Damage *Ranged Critical Damage *Elemental Damage: Hunter abilities such as traps, Black Arrow, and Explosive Shot will do elemental damage of the following types: Improves the Arcane, Fire, Frost, Nature or Shadow damage of abilities like traps, Black Arrow and Explosive Shot. Mage ;Arcane *Spell damage *Spell Haste *Mana Adept: Arcane will deal damage based how much mana the mage has. For example, Arcane mages will do much more damage at 100% mana than at 50% mana. If they begin to get low on mana, they will likely want to use an ability or mechanic to bring their mana up to increase their damage. ;Fire *Spell damage *Spell Crit *Flashburn: All direct-damage fire spells will add a damage-over-time (DoT) component when cast. The flavor will be similar to how Fireball works; however, the DoT component will be much stronger. ;Frost *Spell damage *Spell Crit damage *Deathfrost: Casting Frostbolt places a buff on the mage that increases the damage for all frost, fire, and arcane spells. The only damage spell that won't be affected by this buff is Frostbolt. Paladin ;Holy *Healing *Meditation: This is the spirit-to-mana conversion that the priest, druid, and shaman healers also share. *Critical Healing Effect: When the paladin gets a crit on a heal, it will heal for more. ;Protection *Damage Reduction *Vengeance: This is the damage-received-to-attack-power conversion that all tanks share. *Block Chance: We want to keep the kit of the paladin as a tank who blocks a lot. So by contrast, the warrior tank will sometimes get critical blocks, but the paladin will get more normal blocks. ;Retribution *Melee Damage *Melee Critical Damage *Holy Damage: Any attack that does Holy damage will have its damage increased. Priest ;Discipline *Healing *Meditation *Absorption: Improves the strength of shields such as Power Word: Shield, Divine Aegis, and Power Word: Barrier. ;Holy *Healing *Meditation *Radiance: Your direct heals add a small heal-over-time component to the target. ;Shadow *Spell damage *Spell Crit *Shadow Orbs: Casting spells grants a chance for Shadow Orbs to be created that fly around you and increase your shadow damage. This will help lower-level characters feel more like "Shadow priests" before they obtain Shadowform. Rogue ;Assassination *Melee damage *Melee critical damage *Poison damage ;Combat *Melee damage *Melee Haste *Harder-hitting combo-point generators ;Subtlety *Melee damage *Armor Penetration *Harder-hitting finishers Shaman ;Elemental *Spell damage *Spell Crit *Elemental Overload: Your direct-damage spells have a chance to proc a less powerful 'bonus" version of the spell. This will work much like the current Lightning Overload talent, but would also apply to Lava Burst. ;Enhancement *Melee damage *Melee Haste *Nature Damage: This will provide a passive bonus to the Nature damage dealt by the Enhancement shaman. ;Restoration *Healing *Meditation *Deep Healing: Your direct heals will do more healing when the target's health is lower. This will scale to damage (e.g. someone at 29% health would receive more healing than someone at 30%) rather than have arbitrary break points. Warlock ;Affliction *Spell Damage *Spell Crit *Shadow DoTs: The damage caused by Shadow damage-over-time spells is increased. ;Demonology *Spell Damage *Spell Haste *Demon Damage: The damage caused by pets and Metamorphosis is increased. ;Destruction *Spell Damage *Spell Critical Damage *Fire Direct Damage: The damage caused by Fire direct damage spells is increased. Warrior ;Arms *Melee Damage *Armor Penetration *Bonus Swing: This is similar to the Sword Specialization talent that is currently in the game, but Bonus Swing will work on all attacks and with all weapons. You have a chance to proc a free, instant weapon swing that hits for 50% damage. ;Fury *Melee Damage *Melee Haste *Enrage Intensity: Every benefit of being enraged is increased. This includes doing more damage/healing/ etc. from abilities like Bloodrage, Death Wish, Enrage, Berserker Rage, and Enraged Regeneration. ;Protection *Damage Reduction *Vengeance *Critical Block Chance: As we mentioned in the stat changes preview, block rating is changing to a chance to block 30% of a melee swing's damage. Protection warriors have a chance that the block will be a critical block and block for 60% of a melee swing's damage instead. There will likely be talents available to push the amount blocked even higher. August 2010 Beta Masteries Masteries are affected by the Mastery Rating on your gear. For example, a level 82 player will get 1 Mastery point for each 93 Mastery Rating he has. This mastery point will increase the mastery bonus differently depending on the class, +1 Mastery Point doesn't necessarily means a +1% increase to the bonus. (e.g. A Beast Mastery hunter with +2 Mastery gets +4% increased pet damage) Death Knight ;Blood *Life Shield: Each time you heal yourself via Death Stike, you gain 50% of the amount healed as a damage absorption shield. Absorb increased further by mastery rating. ;Frost *Frozen Heart: Increases all frost damage done by 20%. Damage gains increased further by mastery rating. ;Unholy *Blightcaller: Increases the damage done by your diseases by 20%. Damage increased further by mastery rating. Druid ;Balance *Total Eclipse: Increases the bonus damage from Eclipse by 12%. Damage increased further by mastery rating. ;Feral (Bear) *Savage Defender: Increases the damage absorbed by your Savage Defense ability by 32%. Absorb increased further by mastery rating. ;Feral (Cat) *Razor Claws: Increases the damage done by your bleed abilities by 20%. Damage increased further by mastery rating. ;Restoration *Symbiosis: Increases the potency of your healing spells by 10% on targets already affected by one of your heal over time spells. Each point of Mastery increases heal potency by an additional 1.25%. Hunter ;Beast Mastery *Master of Beasts: Increases the damage done by your pets by 20% Damage increased further by mastery rating. ;Marksmanship *Wild Quiver: Grants a 16% chance for your ranged attacks to also instantly fire an additional ranged shot for 50% normal damage. Chance increased further by mastery rating. ;Survival *Extreme Survival: Increases all elemental damage you deal by 20%. Damage increased further by mastery rating. Mage ;Arcane *Mana Adept: Increases all spell damage done by up to 12%, based on the amount of mana the Mage has unspent. Damage increased further with mastery rating. ;Fire *Flashburn: Causes your non-periodic fire spells to deal 10% additional damage over 4 sec. Damage increased further by mastery rating. ;Frost *Frostburn: Your Frostbolt spell causes its victim to take a 12% increased damage from all other spells you attack the victim with. Damage increased further by mastery rating. Paladin ;Holy *Illuminated Healing: Your healing spells also place an absorb shield on your target for 8% of the amount healed lasting until cancelled. Absorb increased further by mastery rating. ;Protection *Divine Bulwark: Increases your chance to block melee attacks by 16%. Block chance increased further by mastery rating. ;Retribution *Hand of Light: Increases all holy damage done by 20%. Damage increased further by mastery rating. Priest ;Discipline *Shield Discipline: Increases the potency of all your damage absorption spells by 20%. Absorption increased further by mastery rating. ;Holy *Radiance: Your direct healing spells heal for an additional 10% over 6 sec. Healing increased further by mastery rating. ;Shadow *Shadow Orbs: You have a 10% chance for your Shadow Word: Pain and Mind Flay spells to grant you a Shadow Orb each time they deal damage. The Shadow Orb increases the damage done by your Mind Blast and Mind Spike spells by 20%. Damage increased further by mastery rating. Rogue ;Assassination *Potent Poisons: Increases the damage done by your poisons by 20%. Damage increased further by mastery rating. ;Combat *Main Gauche: Your main hand attacks have a 10% chance to grant you an extra off hand attack. Chance increased further by mastery rating. ;Subtlety *Executioner: Increases the damage done by all your finishing moves by 20%. Damage increased further by mastery rating. Shaman ;Elemental *Elemental Overload: Grants a 20% chance for Elemental Overload to occur. Elemental Overload causes a Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, or Lava Burst spell you cast to trigger a second, similar spell on the same target at no additional cost that causes 60% of normal damage and no threat. Chance to trigger increased further by mastery rating. ;Enhancement *Enhanced Elements: Increases all elemental damage done by 20%. Damage increased further by mastery rating. ;Restoration *Deep Healing: Increases the potency of your direct healing spells by up to 20%, based on the current health level of your target (lower health targets are healed for more). Healing increased further by mastery rating. Warlock ;Affliction *Potent Afflictions: Increases all periodic shadow damage you deal by 13%. Damage increased further by mastery rating. ;Demonology *Master Demonologist: Increases the damage done by your demon servants and damage you deal while transformed into a demon by 12%. Damage increased further by mastery rating. ;Destruction *Fiery Apocalypse: Increases all fire damage you deal by 10%. Damage increased further by mastery rating. Warrior ;Arms *Strikes of Opportunity: Grants a 16% chance for your melee attacks to instantly trigger an additional melee attack for 50% normal damage. Chance increased further by mastery rating. ;Fury *Unshackled Fury: Increases the benefit of abilities that cause you to be enraged or consume an enrage effect by 80%. ;Protection *Critical Block: Increases your chance to block by 10% and your chance to critically block by 10%. Chances increased further by mastery rating.